---
phase: 04-integration-publishing
plan: 03
subsystem: docs
tags: [readme, documentation, pypi, user-facing, api-reference]

# Dependency graph
requires:
  - phase: 03-training-energy-tests
    provides: "Complete public API (17 exports in __all__) for API overview table"
  - phase: 04-integration-publishing/01
    provides: "CIFAR-10 example script for Results section reference"
provides:
  - "User-facing README.md with theory explainer, installation, quickstart, API table, and results"
  - "PyPI-ready package documentation"
affects: [04-integration-publishing/04-pypi-publish]

# Tech tracking
tech-stack:
  added: []
  patterns:
    - "Academic-pedagogical documentation tone for user-facing docs"

key-files:
  created: []
  modified:
    - "README.md"

key-decisions:
  - "Status badge updated from pre-release to stable"
  - "Planning docs links removed from user-facing README entirely"

patterns-established:
  - "README structure: theory -> install -> quickstart -> API table -> results -> how it works -> references"

# Metrics
duration: 4min
completed: 2026-02-25
---

# Phase 4 Plan 3: README Documentation Summary

**Full user-facing README with predictive coding theory explainer, PyTorch peer dep install, quickstart snippet, 17-name API table, and CIFAR-10 results**

## Performance

- **Duration:** 4 min
- **Started:** 2026-02-25T19:09:29Z
- **Completed:** 2026-02-25T19:14:06Z
- **Tasks:** 1
- **Files modified:** 1

## Accomplishments

- Rewrote README.md from internal planning stub to full user-facing documentation
- Added 5-paragraph "What are Predictive Coding Networks?" theory section covering Rao & Ballard, Friston, energy function, two-timescale dynamics, and biological plausibility
- Added installation section with explicit "install PyTorch first from pytorch.org" peer dependency instruction
- Added runnable quickstart code snippet demonstrating full workflow (import, build, configure, train, evaluate)
- Added API overview table covering all 17 exported names from `__all__`
- Added CIFAR-10 results section with 45-55% accuracy expectation and honest architecture-limitation caveat
- Removed all internal `.planning/` links from user-facing README

## Task Commits

Each task was committed atomically:

1. **Task 1: Rewrite README.md with full academic-pedagogical documentation** - `0eb2003` (docs)

## Files Created/Modified

- `README.md` - Complete user-facing documentation: theory explainer, installation, quickstart, API table, results, how it works, references

## Decisions Made

- Updated status badge from `pre-release-orange` to `stable-brightgreen` per plan specification
- Removed `.planning/` project planning section and roadmap overview entirely (internal docs, not user documentation)
- Used inline backtick notation for math expressions rather than LaTeX blocks for GitHub rendering compatibility

## Deviations from Plan

None - plan executed exactly as written.

## Issues Encountered

None.

## User Setup Required

None - no external service configuration required.

## Next Phase Readiness

- README.md is complete and ready for PyPI publication
- All 17 public API names documented in the API overview table
- Installation instructions correctly reference PyTorch as peer dependency
- CIFAR-10 results section references examples/cifar10.py
- Ready for Phase 4 Plan 4 (PyPI publishing)

## Self-Check: PASSED

---
*Phase: 04-integration-publishing*
*Completed: 2026-02-25*
